


New Game

by AG_systems



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Gold & Silver & Crystal | Pokemon Gold Silver Crystal Versions
Genre: Bonding, Experimental Style, Game Worlds, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Love, Stream of Consciousness, Those Left Behind, short & Bittersweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:55:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25592383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AG_systems/pseuds/AG_systems
Summary: "There is another save file. Is it OK to overwrite?"> YES> NO
Relationships: Eifie | Espeon/Player
Kudos: 15





	New Game

i worried for a long time  
i worried whether i’d ever see him again  
  
  
  
  
  
one day i woke up  
like i had many other days before  
the digital clock in the bag beeped out the time  
i yawned and stretched  
set about licking my fur, cleaning up  
  
he was gone  
_you_ were gone  
  
i figured you had run to the store or something  
left your gear with us, knew that we’d protect it  
so i stayed and watched it  
  
none of my friends were there either  
where did they go?  
did they go with him?  
  
i waited all day  
hunger scratched at my insides  
i dug around in his pack, found some dried berries  
i ate them  
i waited some more  
  
night fell  
i was worried  
he’d never been away this long  
he’d never left me alone this long  
  
i searched around  
looked for a nook or cranny i could hide his stuff  
climbed a tree, found a hole  
levitated his things and hid them  
committed the place to memory  
and left  
  
  
  
i ran into town  
it felt different  
the same people were there  
the same buildings were there  
but it still felt empty  
  
i ran to the department store  
he spent a lot of time there, agonizing over purchases  
the owners didn’t like much me roaming around on my own  
but i told their pokémon that i was looking for my partner  
and they let me search for him  
all over those seven floors i looked  
  
over the next two days i swept the city  
every hour my dread slowly growing  
every minute teasing me  
telling me he could be anywhere by now  
  
as time went on i started noticing something  
the people acted strangely  
they went to the same places  
they did the same things  
they said the same things  
  
i was scared  
but part of me felt that  
it had always been this way  
just  
i had been with him  
and had been so caught up with our journey, with being together,  
that i hadn’t noticed  
  
is that why everything felt so empty?  
  
every day i found berries  
a can of lemonade left on the street  
  
the wild pokémon i ran into  
they seemed more alive than the people in town  
at least, they didn’t do the same thing every day  
but they didn’t know either  
they’d pounce out of the grass, wanting a challenge  
i’d convince them that i was too powerful, and that i didn’t want a fight  
that i was just looking for someone  
they didn’t know either  
  
  
  
i made my way north  
  
i entered a town  
nostalgic, old, filled with memories  
not so much my own, but those of its makers  
  
i had heard stories  
of a tower  
and a pokémon atop it  
a pokémon that knew things  
  
maybe it knew where he was  
  
by this time i was growing weak  
espeons aren’t meant to be alone  
we need companionship, love, to thrive  
worries consumed my thoughts  
doubts ate at my powers  
i was alone  
  
but there was no way i could find him on my own  
the world was too much  
i needed help  
i was alone  
  
so i steeled myself  
ate as many berries as i could  
and scaled the tower  
  
  
  
i snuck past the human guarding the entrance  
though a part of me suspected they knew  
and they let me pass  
was it because of my partner? the accomplishments he made? and i had, by association?  
or perhaps they knew of my plight?  
  
i pressed on  
  
the pokémon here were powerful  
and in my state i struggled to ward them off  
i pleaded with them to spare me  
they could see i was strong  
and that i was waning  
most took pity  
a few took advantage  
  
i spent all of one night on a solitary floor  
panting  
saving my strength  
by the grace of some god i had found food  
i ate it with gratitude  
and wept  
and slept  
  
  
  
where did you go?  
why did you leave me all alone?  
  
  
  
i crept towards the top  
my body swam in depression  
i reasoned with myself  
i was healthy  
i was fit  
he had taken care of me  
why was i struggling so?  
  
my mind withered  
the isolation sucked the life out of me  
like a dried fruit  
  
the voice at the back of my mind scared me  
chased me  
chased me up that tower  
i didn’t want to listen  
i didn’t want to give it the time of day  
i didn’t believe it  
  
  
  
finally i reached the top  
it had taken days  
it had felt like years  
  
i looked up  
the tower had a tin roof  
and underneath, wooden beams crisscrossing and supporting a pointed apex  
a single room filled the floor  
wooden doors and paper screens surrounding it  
  
the room was empty  
  
incense crept off a tray  
i walked on a rug, past a set of cushions  
  
despite the emptiness, it felt  
peaceful  
  
the room was empty  
and i was alone  
so i stayed  
  
  
  
i stayed in that room, at the top of the tower  
  
  
  
i don’t know how long  
  
  
  
in my feverish mind a memory bubbled up  
my partner holding a feather of brilliant color  
it had been given to him by an old man  
he kept it like a relic, like a treasure, wrapped it in cloth and stowed it in his bag  
  
that feather was important  
  
why was i thinking of that feather now?  
  
  
  
_~ whump! ~_  
  
i span around  
haunches raising  
i was at my end  
but i would not be disturbed  
  
there, on a cushion behind me, sat his bag  
  
his bag  
  
i rushed to it  
ripped open the top  
devoured the jerky  
spilled the bottled water as i lapped it up  
almost swallowed whole every last dried berry  
  
and then dug  
dug like i had never searched before  
how was his pack so big?  
how had he managed to stuff it so full of…stuff?  
items littered the room around me  
but my mind was centered on only one thing  
  
i found a side pocket  
inconspicuous inside the main pocket  
with a rubber zipper  
my mind tingled  
i tenderly pulled the zipper with my mouth  
pulled out the contents  
  
a cloth bundle  
and a paper booklet  
  
the booklet fell open  
  
there was text inside  
i couldn’t read it  
but i saw  
  
him  
  
photographs  
  
him smiling, looking back at me  
him holding a little fire shrew, his first partner  
i had never seen what he had looked like before he evolved  
him showing off a gym badge  
  
dark spots started to blossom on the photos  
  
him in front of a shrine  
him with his mom  
pictures of the national park he loved to visit  
he would stay in that park for hours  
sitting on a park bench  
  
me  
  
oh my god me  
  
him holding me, as an eevee  
  
memories flooded back  
following him through the tall grass  
sitting on a salon bench, man twirling scissors expertly, him standing by anxiously  
him giving me protein drinks  
him biking around aimlessly, me on his shoulder, the fire weasel on his other  
cuddling up to him every night  
  
and there, another photo  
i’m  
an espeon  
when did he take this one?  
he looks so proud of me  
  
more tears  
  
i wanted to turn away  
but i couldn’t  
the memories gave me life  
  
  
  
the photos dampened, curled  
the ink blotting and stirring  
  
  
  
a presence  
i uncurled, sprang up, tears still trickling  
  
i saw them  
  
and i understood  
  
they had brought the bag  
  
the feather lay there, unwrapped on its cloth  
in front of me  
  
they had granted me an audience  
  
  
  
i told them what happened  
they probably already knew  
i didn’t care  
  
i told them everything  
  
they listened  
  
i told them about the demons  
the isolation  
i told them about the people  
how strange they were  
i told them about the pokémon  
  
i told them i was losing my mind  
  
  
  
they looked at me  
some…understanding in their eyes  
never interrupted  
waited patiently  
  
i exhausted myself  
had no more left to say  
  
i stared  
i pleaded at my savior  
  
where was he?  
  
  
  
he was gone  
  
  
  
he left  
  
  
  
the world had lost its agent  
and so had reverted to its natural state  
only i was left, warmed by his touch  
changed by his love  
  
  
  
i didn’t understand  
i didn’t _want_ to understand  
  
  
  
there was nothing they could do  
he severed his connection to the world  
it could not be regained  
  
  
  
no  
why  
  
  
  
they could not say  
could have been an accident  
could have been intentional  
  
  
  
he wouldn’t leave me  
  
  
  
they were sorry  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
i stayed there  
  
ho-oh, to their everlasting credit, brought me food and water  
  
i watched from the top of the tower  
watched the world turn like clockwork  
  
the person for whom it had been created was gone  
the world cycled through its phases, like the moon  
people planting themselves in random places, the same place every seven days  
groups of pokémon, emerging, hiding, with the hours, with the tide  
a boy cycling back and forth  
back and forth  
back and forth  
  
  
  
how was i different  
  
why was i left to stay  
  
why could i tell these things  
see what others could not  
  
ho-oh could not answer me  
would not  
i could tell they knew  
but would not tell me  
  
  
  
i clung to my memories  
ho-oh helped me dry out the photographs  
i slept, curled up around his bag every night  
  
  
  
days became weeks became months became years  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
i miss you  
  
i miss you so much  
  
didn’t you love me?  
  
why would you leave?  
  
please  
  
  
  
i love you

**Author's Note:**

> Back when Pokémon Silver came out, I was just a little kid, and didn't think things through. I didn't have a lot of friends to trade with either. So when I beat Red, I wanted to keep playing. I started a new game.  
>   
> I kind of wish I hadn't. I wonder how my team is doing.  
>   
>   
>   
> A bit melancholy. Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
